My Plan for the week:
It is the end of summer break as we know it! School for teachers officially starts this week. The kids will be strolling through the doors with brand new binders, pencils and locker decorations on the 25th. I am excited to see the class roster - as well as the size of classes I have been tasked with controlling :). On Wednesday, I will be reporting at the bright and early time of 7:30 AM. (Since starting this post, I have received my class roster and have found my class sizes to be around 38 students) Some may think that 38 or 40 students is a lot (as do I!) but it becomes second nature in no time at all. Class expectations are the number one thing you must decide upon before beginning the class. This weekend, I am finishing up the decorating and table set-up in preparation for my 190 +/- students that will walk through my classroom doors.
What I did/Where I went:
This week has been extremely busy. With moving my classroom - packing and unpacking - hanging posters and getting my classroom ready I was slammed. There were plenty of beginning school meetings to attend as well as paperwork and new name tags to retrieve. I'm hopeful this school year starts off with a bang and the incoming 8th graders are more respectful and ready to learn than last years. Although I didn't have many problems, I saw a level of laziness from many students that I was unable to change. I attempted to motivate through labs, hands-on-activities, and outdoor activities. I have been told that the incoming 8th graders have a great behavior record and were prepared to learn last year. Other than working on my classroom, I didn't do much else. This weekend, I have spent most time at home minus a quick trip to the dog park. I needed to relax and get my groove on!
What I learned:
First off, I think this is extremely exciting - My school is a five star school in the Clark County School District (out of five stars). We were afraid we were going to drop a star since one entire grade level couldn't be tested for mathematics. What this meant is that all scores are based entirely on the 7th and 8th grade students. Well, they did fantastic! In reading and writing - we have an increase in scores and a gap that is closing quick. My subject - science - went up 5 points in one school year. Needless to say, the principal is very pleased with the results. Is it the kids? Is it the teachers? Is it the parents? I'd have to say that it is a combination of positive behaviors from all involved. Educating our youth is important and when a positive approach at teaching and learning is valued, kids learn. I'm very excited to see what happens this year.
Live binders is kind of neat. We used this to show our favorite web page but I noticed that you can click through the entire website on Live binder. I thought this was fantastic. Live binders has many different lesson plans for all grades and subjects. It can be difficult to weed through the many lessons but worth the time when you find a fantastic lesson.
One of the other students in my education class used Popplet as a demonstration and I thought it was kind of neat. I decided to create my web 2.0 by using Popplet. I know that I always like a PDF version of a step-by-step how to guide. Popplet allows you to create this. I am happy for my progress. Here is the link to the Popplet and how to set up an account and create a test in Socrative http://popplet.com/app/#/1992713.
What I decided for my website:
When looking at the rubric for my website, I realized that I was missing one or more of the required pages. Because I teach 8th grade science, I didn't find a parent page to be as useful as a lesson page. I have decided to add a page for parents that will talk about upcoming lessons and tasks the students will encounter. I am making my final changes. During the last class meeting, another student commented on my website about needing more color and photos. Although I do like colorful websites, I don't believe color makes a website any better. I firmly believe in ADA compliance and believe that my students (with more pictures and miscellaneous colors) may be sidetracked by material I added for aesthetic purposes. This is why my website is white.
My Plan
for the week:
It was an extremely busy week. I barely had time to think much less clean the house! With school starting in just a few days, I have been working on new lesson plans for the beginning year and preparing my documents to be printed. The school printer (her name is Anita) requires everything to be turned in at least a week prior to needing it. With everyone throwing their orders in, it is going to be difficult to have everything I need for the first week of school. Wish me luck!
What I
did/Where I went:
This week, I was able to visit with family as much as possible. I've been visiting my father at his hotel to sit in the jacuzzi. I've needed it this week more than any other week. I found out this week that I may not be able to start my English Masters until the spring semester. All of my references have returned their questionnaires so I'm hopeful to be accepted. I've also visited Arizona. There are so many mountainous areas to die for. I'm often impressed at the grandeur of the canyons and obvious faulting of the mountains over the years.
What I
learned:
Book talks - Book talks are one of my favorite things that I have ever put together. Because I chose to take English classes in addition to my degree in science and social studies, I was fortunate to take young adult literature and library media as a class. In these classes, I was required to create book talks to be used with an English language arts class. Book talks are so important in creating interest and desire to read. I have many to share with anyone that would like to use!
#Hashtags! - who doesn't love hashtags? I will definitely keep the list of hashtags on the website provided.
Facebook as an educational tool - Call me old fashioned but I have noticed that my 8th grade students are starting to pull away from facebook. They have begun using other social media sites and these are often on a one-on-one basis and less on a group of people together. Examples include - twitter, instagram, and vines.
What I
decided for my website:
My website will be a work in progress. Originally, I thought I would upload as many lessons as possible but I have decided that would confuse my students. It will be important to keep up on my website on a daily/weekly basis as to decrease the amount of confusion my students will face when looking for an assignment.
My Plan for the week:
School has not begun in Nevada. The first day for teachers is on August 20th. Since last week, I have learned that I will be moving my classroom. I have received information that one of the other teachers have decided to leave and they have been replaced. It seems that when a new teacher comes in, they receive my old classroom (the classroom is not completely set up for science curriculum but works). Although I am writing this late in my week, I have been preparing my class rules and the first few weeks of school lesson plans. In addition to this and because I will be finished with this MAT degree on August 26th, I have been looking at my next program. I sincerely have a passion to teach English at the undergraduate level and understand that I can find jobs that match this desire once I receive at least 18 credit hours in English past my original Master's degree. I have applied at Northern Arizona University and hope to start with the fall term (pending my references send in the letters I have requested). The program seems to be something I am interested in - MA in English with a concentration on Rhetorical writing as well as teaching English.
What I did/Where I went:
This week I didn't get out much. I have been relaxing as much as possible and visiting with my grandmother and my father when they come to town. I've taken advantage of the apartment complex's swimming pool and Jacuzzi as much as possible. With the new school year beginning soon, I would love to get out and go camping a few more times. The Vegas heat is killer so I have to go to an area that has lower temperatures year round. As I've discussed in the past, the grand canyon has a fantastic campground I would like to try out. The distance of travel is four hours so it's something that can't be done in a two day trip. I just can't wait until September and October when I can take the camper 30 miles away and be nice and cool.
What I learned:
For some reason, I remember studying different types of fonts at one time. When writing a journal or blog, I have always stuck with the traditional New Times Roman font. Call me a creature of habit, but I like the way it looks and it's something I've used for years. Nothing drives me crazier than having font that is all frilly and circular. I have a problem following along and I imagine my grandmother can't read it at all. (I am a grandma's girl - totally!) In addition, as I've always known, never shift your font type. I mean, once in a while to make a point but never on a regular basis.
Google hangout - really?! I don't have time to chat with my sister across the country. I love to see her face while talking - probably should use skype or facetime to talk with her more often. I guess with every company trying to stay up on technology, there becomes an overabundance. I'm not really interested in Google hangout. (Couldn't they have named it something more professional?!)
What I decided for my website:
When I originally began creating my website - including last week, I thought I was going to have different pages under each page but when looking at it on my cell phone and on my ipad, I realized that the original page that had pages under it needs to be finished and then isn't often visited. It's difficult to explain but it makes sense when looking over the website. Instead of having visitors click on the actual page and then follow the subpages, I have decided to place links into the main page for the visitor to use. It seems this way, they get the full use out of my website. I should be completed with my website this week.
My Plan for the week:
There are numerous different web 2.0 programs that can be introduced to a class of scientists. As a general rule, many of the web 2.0 applications on the internet focus greatly on the younger crowd - those in elementary school or young middle school. I have been researching ways that I can use web 2.0 applications in my classroom but mostly by using student cell phones. I will be researching ways in which I can create a BYOD document to be used at the school in which I teach. It is almost necessary to use this when computer access is at a minimum. Currently, there isn't a BYOD document in use and cell phones are practically taboo in the classroom. I do believe, in some manner, that administrators just want to be sure that technology in the use of cell phones doesn't border on inappropriate usage. I am researching new ways of incorporating this in my classroom and must present my ideas to the principal at my school the second week of August.
What I did/Where I went:
This week, I have been focusing greatly on creating lesson plans to begin my school year. I have created a new syllabus for my students and turned it in for approval. Although school doesn't start for another three weeks, I need to get my print orders turned in before others (there is a full time employee that does all print work at each school).
The month of July was the first month in my new place. I have been working on getting it feeling and looking like home. The heat coming through the windows in my living room has been outrageous. My electric bill was over 100 dollars, which seems like a lot considering the apartment is so small. I have added curtains to four different windows and as of today, I can definitely feel the difference in the heat - either that or its the rain that has fallen on the desert floor. Did I say rain? In Vegas? Yes! The temperature outside hasn't reached above 90 today. It's been fantastic. One of my favorites, and one I have used before is readwritethink. Readwritethink has many resources that can be used in any grade level of education. One favorite I found on this website is teaching about literacy and vocabulary regardless of the content. I don't believe enough reading comprehension is pushed in the science classroom and my goal every year is to teach this to my students.
What I learned:
This week, I learned how to use Weebly a little more. Originally, I was trying to figure out how I was going to follow along with my original plans for my website. During our weekly meeting, I realized I could make pages that were secondary to my original pages. Because of this, I am able to create a website that resembles my original idea.
Tech integration in the classroom is very difficult in my school. Because I work in a school that receives no Title 1 money, it is difficult to provide a technology integrated classroom. As I discussed earlier, I am working on ways of using BYOD in my classroom. When researching tech ideas, I loved this website, http://edtechideas.com/2012/06/01/49-cool-summer-sites-for-kids-and-teachers/. I believe that if we offer the assistance and guidance to further content learning while students are out of the classroom, students will take advantage of it.
What I decided for my website:
It seems impossible that I will be able to use as many links as I originally planned for my lesson plans. I am going to need to separate each lesson as I go. Because I have more than 2 G's of lesson plans for the year, I am going to add these as I progress through the year. I am, however, going to add the lessons for the first few weeks of school to my website. I don't want my students confused by the enormous amounts of material that I "could" put on the website.
In addition, I am going to create another page that speaks of the rules in my class and the procedures my students must follow to be successful in the class.
My Plan for the week:
There are many different ways to share links used in the classroom. I wanted to look through the different social bookmarking sites to see which I liked the best. I looked through several after learning what they were and chose a few to look at and eventually use. Additionally, I needed to look through a few teacher websites to see what they do with their websites to gain student attention. It seems many of the teacher websites I researched lacked variety and a personal touch that would interest the students into using the website for their own personal use. Although the weekly assignment was to complete the contact information page, I want to finish my homepage and the contact page. It makes more sense to go one step at a time. On my homepage, I will be adjusting the photos that are displayed in the future. I needed to go through my science based photos and gather into one file instead of picking each one - plus, I learned I can drop and drag photos into the website. Since I use two monitors for all of my work, I am able to easily see the photos and my webpage at the same time. This really creates a work environment that is easy to use. For anyone without two monitors, you are missing out - if you have a laptop, attach a monitor - you will not regret the change. I have been doing school work like this for the last 5 years and get much more accomplished in the same amount of time.
What I did/Where I went:
First and foremost, I went camping this past week in Arizona. As I mentioned last week, I was trying to make plans. It came to fruition and two days were spend in the Arizona wilderness. The campground was a very small place with only 12 sites. The trees hung low which blocked the hot Arizona sun. Although Arizona is known for its very hot weather by most, there are many places in Arizona that receive snow and temperatures are low year round. For example, did you know the Grand Canyon National Park is often in the 70's? When researching places to drag the camper, I realized that within four hours of my home in Las Vegas, I could enjoy 70 degree weather while looking over the edge of the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. How beautiful would that be? Well, as how my summer usually goes, I am looking at getting out for a 4 day weekend to the Grand Canyon. I just cant imagine going another year without experiencing one of the world's wonders. (FYI - I have lived in the western part of the country for 30 plus years of my life and NEVER visited the Grand Canyon). I did manage to take some photos of the scenery while camping. Here are some fantastic mountain photos at the campground and on the way home. And yes, I had to post the photo of the Cow (female elk) that came strolling through camp.
What I learned:
I learned about social bookmarking. In class, another student suggested using Pinterest for social bookmarking and I immediately thought about how I have used Pinterest in the past. Honestly, I always thought Pinterest was bulky and unusable for much more than frilly pictures and ideas others have. Maybe its the people I have followed in the past or maybe I never really got into it to utilize its benefits. Either way, I wanted to research other bookmarking sites and found a few that were interesting. I still hadn't decided on a definite choice. I thought I would ask the technology specialist at my school and she was quick to say Pinterest! I was shocked to say the least. She said that she has researched social networking for her degree and she insisted that Pinterest, when used right, has the greatest influence of all. She said if I could not use Pinterest, then Delicious was the best. I had looked at Delicious and thought it was pretty good but didn't realize how much I was going to like it until I started using it. My Delicious community can be found at www.delicious.com/mbrasser0001. Now, why do I think it is amazing - well first off, you have to add the "Delicious" symbol (lack of words here - kind of like a link to Delicious) to your Google Chrome browser. When you add a page to Delicious, it pops up with possible keywords and an area for you to add comments. Plus, if others have saved this to Delicious, it will tell you who and when. This can be beneficial when looking for websites others have found.
There are so many websites out there that look good but are no good for research purposes. I have taken many classes on researching websites and the information you find on the internet. Because I am an English major in addition to Science, I feel I am quite versed in spotting a fraud. I do teach my students about proper use of the internet and I always insist they read the website from which they are pulling information before citing their sources. I love the comment in our reading, "You won't always be able to find exactly what you need right on the very first page of the first website you go to. Looking at different places and gathering information from them is what doing research means. But if it's very hard for you to find the information you need, and especially if it seems that information from one part of the website contradicts another part, you may want to try another site" (Multnomah County Library, 2010). If there is nothing more important, it is to understand that evaluating websites is necessary when completing research. Also, check reference dates. If the references are out of date (over 7 years old) you may want to look elsewhere.
What I decided for my website:
I love Weebly! There are problems with the way I originally designed my template. In order to add videos I would have to pay for Weebly. Since I am on a budget, I will not be embedding videos. Instead, I will add video's to a list on my links portion of the website. I have decided photos are important and the more color, the better. There are a few flaws I don't like about Weebly but I am getting used to it. I am hoping that when finished, it will pull my students in to using it.
My Plan for the week:
Although I have written this post following the work necessary for class, I plan on looking at other Web 2.0 applications to host my website. As required, I signed up for the Weebly website and I like the looks of most of the pages but they seem to be so simple and not exactly what I was looking for. This week, I will be reading a bit more about technology processes in the classroom and incorporating website usage with my students. In addition, I have decided I will use a few flipped classroom ideas this next year to aid in completing the curriculum with time left in the school year. With this in mind, I have been researching the best ways to record video to be used and will probably be putting these types of videos on my website. I'm sure my accelerated students will take advantage of this type of lesson. I hope my regular class will, as well. In addition, my classroom rules didn't seem to take as well as I wanted last year - I need to redo them and create a poster board or two to be used throughout the classroom. School doesn't start until August 26, so I have plenty of time.
What I did/Where I went:
I enjoyed my summer off. I didn't do much but made plans for this coming week. I own a 2013 26 foot camper trailer and want to use it at some point. I researched places to go that will get me out of the Las Vegas heat and have decided on a state park in Arizona. The temperatures (weather.com) claim to be 20 degrees lower than the floor of the nearest city. I hope this is true and it doesn't rain the whole time I'm out. I will be leaving on Sunday morning and will return on Tuesday. I have class on Monday and Tuesday so I will need to travel for wifi to attend my classes - not a big deal, I've been doing this for the last year of my Master's degree.
What I learned:
This last week, I have learned some things about technology I never knew. I had to create a wireframe for my soon-to-be website and a sitemap. When I first started, I was confused at the difference between the two. I guess, I was thinking more on an English professor level. When I teach my students to write, I always encourage some type of outline and there are usually some issues but overall a decent creation of "pre-ideas" they would like to use. The sitemap was fairly easy to create. I used PowerPoint to create the sitemap and then saved it as a PDF. For those of you looking to create a sitemap, be sure you adjust the design on your PowerPoint to reflect the size you would like your sitemap to be saved as. I was fortunate in that I was tasked in the past with creating a presentation by using PPT. I have used Microsoft Publisher in the past but forgot about it until I started the initial creation of my sitemap so decided to go forth.
Building my website from the bottom up wasn't as difficult as I originally thought. When creating lesson plans, it is always important to understand the goal you are trying to accomplish. Because my mind tends to work in this manner, when reading about building my website from the bottom up, it was easy to understand. This week, I read about using the cloud to save documents. I have been using dropbox for at least two years. I have shared my knowledge with as many people as I can (plus it gives me more space!). I do like google drive and that it saves my documents as they are created but I am unable to use this on my work computer so I stick to dropbox when possible. When creating my wireframe I read Erez Zukerman's website at http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/website-wireframe-develop-website/ to understand more and to gather ideas necessary for creating my wireframe. I learned in this reading about the different programs you can use for creating a wireframe and mostly, I realized how this program can be used to create just about anying - lesson plans, presentations, etc.
What I decided for my website:
I have decided that I will use weebly for my website. Although I don't necessarily find any certain page of great value, I will make it work. I believe I am going to look into buying my own domain name so my kids don't have to type in .weebly.com each time they want to go to the classroom website. I'm thinking the domain name of www.brasserscience.com. I found it was available and considering the purchase for hosting. There are so many different website creators out there, I know there is one that I will be completely satisfied with but for ease of creation, it looks like weebly will be it. When creating my wireframe and my sitemap, I realized how many pages I would like on my website. I believe it is going to be a challenge mostly in the lesson page. I need to upload many different links to assignments and they need to have the names changed so my students will understand what they are looking at. In addition, I have decided to use photos and videos on my website and need to research the best media to use to grab their attention without overwhelming the pages.
My Plan for the week:
My plan for the week is to enjoy some time off. I moved thirteen days ago and its been a ton of work to get unpacked and in my new home. Everything is so up in the air and starting a new term with fresh classes is just the thing I need to get started. I have two classes this term and can't wait to put some of my fantastic technology skills to use!
What I did/Where I went:
This week, I visited many different places in Las Vegas. Although this is my home, it is always interesting to see how things change. Although I am a science fanatic, I love art! All around me art shows up. I visited many different hotels on the strip this week and learned the background of how they were built and the ideas behind some of the structures. In addition, I have made a conscious effort to listen to music other than country. As many of my friends and family can attest, I am a country fanatic. I have listened to country since a young kid and love everything about it. On a recent trip I was asked if we could listen to channel 15 and channel 16 on Sirius radio. I obliged and immediately realized I loved that music as well. So.. since then, I have made every effort to listen to all types of music.
What I learned:
Although this is a bit personal, I have learned much about myself in the past few weeks. I just ended an 8 year relationship with someone I thought was everything. I have learned this is not the case and I am just as important as they. Although I am quite good at technology, I have always depended upon this person to help me out when needed. I have asked for help when I didn't necessarily need it. Since moving into my own place, I have been tasked with hooking up new wireless internet, setting up surround sound systems, self-installed cable tv and internet, and hung televisions on the wall (still working on the wireless printer - can't seem to get it right!) What I have learned the most is that I am a strong individual and what is said to me can only go as deep as I allow. I do hope to learn more about myself in this process but I am also very excited to finish my Masters degree with these two classes.. Graduation at the end of August.
What I decided for my website:
I have decided that I will use my website to provide lessons my students will be using on a daily basis. In the past, I have always offered the opportunities for absent students to see me after school for make-up assignments but if I use my website to provide the lessons they missed on a daily basis, they will be able to print and complete the assignment on their own. Because the school district does not require teachers to post lesson plans online, it is necessary to provide to parents, other teachers, and students the basics of what they will learn. I will also be sure to keep my website interactive with photos and ideas for future use. I do love factual information for my science students and I will attempt to add something factual on a regular basis.
